


Twelve Minutes Behind

by Val_Creative



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), WandaVision (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, BAMF Wanda Maximoff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship/Love, Good Sibling Pietro Maximoff, Mild Language, Pietro Maximoff Feels, Post-Episode: s01e06 All-New Halloween Spooktacular!, Protectiveness, Reunions, Season/Series 01, Superpowers, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29403576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative
Summary: The carnival has come to town. Wanda loses her sons in the Hall of Mirrors, and she discovers someone unexpected.
Relationships: Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff
Comments: 8
Kudos: 134





	Twelve Minutes Behind

**Author's Note:**

> (For clarification: This is about MCU Wanda's Pietro Maximoff, not Ralph/Fietro/Imposter "Pietro".)
> 
> BOY AM I MISSING AARON!PIETRO. I decided to do something with the twins because I miss him and I miss him and Wanda hanging out. Hope you enjoy this! Any thoughts/comments welcomed!❤️ Did Episode 6 freak anyone else out?

*

Westview hasn't been this crowded since Halloween night. And now, the Summer Days carnival has come to town.

_"Tommy!"_

She groans aggravated, circling back in another hallway full of mirrors. Her twin boys insisted on exploring the Funhouse.

_"Tommy! Billy! Both of you come back here this instant!"_

Wanda can hear them giggling, and notices Tommy's dark emerald tee around the corner.

A group of children run by Wanda, screeching happily.

The corners of Wanda's lips lift. It's all she could want—everyone's happiness.

Ever since she fought with the man resembling Pietro, who was an imposter, and toppled him into foam gravestones, Wanda hasn't identified him in Westview. Her children haven't asked about him. She suspects they're afraid to—whether or not they're afraid of him as the now obvious stranger in their lives, or afraid of Wanda herself, remains to be seen. She's not worried.

Agnes volunteered to watch over Vision resting at home, making herself cozy on the other sofa while Wanda's husband snored hilariously loud. Wanda made sure he would sleep the entire day while she walked Billy and Tommy out to the local carnival.

"You're about to be grounded!" Wanda calls out, frowning and nearly tripping in an unlit area. "Ow— _OW!_ Damn it!"

She kicks off her lime flip-flops, going barefoot. Even while in a halter top, Wanda sweats a lot. Her low-rise denim jeans itchy.

There's no more children running by her.

It's all quiet.

Wanda summons her psionic energy impatiently, twirling her glowing, reddish-pink fingers. " _Find me what I seek,_ " she murmurs, and the words manifest in a thick Sokovian accent. A whorl of reddish magic pulses, drifting in front of her and stretching out.

After following it, Wanda discovers herself standing in another area surrounded by mirrors. The overhead lights dim.

She glances down at her gem-bedazzled wristwatch. The hands pause on 12:12pm.

Wanda shakes her wrist.

Nothing— _nothing changes._

That doesn't make sense. Wanda can always make things in Westview how she wants them to be.

No matter what.

Her reddish magic fades to pale blue vapors of kinetic energy.

Behind her, Wanda spots the man pretending to be her brother. Her teeth grit. She flares up a palmful of her energy sphere, turning around for a strike and… there's nobody there. Wanda's jaw loosens. She turns back around, and her reflection vanishes.

Instead, the man looks into Wanda's eyes with a soft, easy smirk.

Her fingertips dull their glow. Wanda's heart stutters.

It can't…

The carnival mirror flows like hot molten quicksilver, allowing him to step through to face Wanda.

"You didn't see that one coming?"

" _Please,_ " Wanda mumbles, her eyes tinging scarlet-glow. It can't be. And yet, he towers over her, silent and smirking like Pietro always smirked after making one of his clever remarks. He looks down to Wanda's right hand. His silvery hair windswept.

She looks down with him.

His left hand nudges Wanda's bare and sun-tanned fingers, Pietro's fingers entwining hers.

Looking back up, Wanda finds herself in another mirror surrounded by Pietro's reflections.

Her long, undone brown hair. Wanda's pale face scrubbed clean of the 00's makeup. She wears her currant-red shawl on her own shoulders, as well as a thin, velvety black dress. Pietro's thumb rubs gently over Wanda's rings—their mother's engagement and diamond wedding rings.

She shudders, giving into a whimpery noise.

"Ss'okay, _little mine_ ," Pietro says quietly, eyeing her and touching Wanda's cheek with the back of his knuckle.

Wanda remembers—she remembers it's a nickname in their mother language for little sisters.

Her bare toes curl in. Wanda's eyes dissipate their reddish glow, blinking out tears. She shuts them.

"Pietro," Wanda breathes, feeling like the whole world shifts out of balance. A deep, raspy sob leaves her. She clamps a hand over her wet and quivering mouth, leaning into Pietro's front when his arms embrace her. His uniform without rips or patches of blood.

But… he can't…

Wanda shakes her head, resisting the familiar illusion… it _must_ be an illusion.

Someone else is _doing this_ to her. To torment and weaken her. To make her afraid in the reality she created.

 _But_ …

She can smell Pietro.

The woodfire smoke and gunpowder when they lived on the streets in their home country. Flavorless toothpaste. Doctor List's chloroform rags.

Wanda feels Pietro's mouth holding a kiss to the top of her head.

"Did you really think I could ever leave you?"

"You did." Wanda backs out of his arms, distressed. "Pietro, you _did_ leave me. You…"

The corners of Pietro's mouth lift, mirroring an earlier Wanda.

"I was always here," he insists, gripping Wanda's hand and placing her own hand to her heart, covering Wanda's entire hand with his. "And in here," Pietro adds gleefully, poking her forehead for a moment. "Not that there is much going on in there."

An outraged laugh escapes her.

Wanda stares at him as if seeing this Pietro for the first time, her barriers crumbling.

 _"Asshole!"_ she barks, no longer in the mood for using English. Wanda swats at Pietro's chest, hitting him, listening to him chuckle and feeling a snorting Pietro halfheartedly swat her forearm in return. _"I am not the one who drank my own piss."_

"Hey, I did no much thing—"

Pietro hesitates, making a so-so face. His accent heavy.

"—more than one time," he says, glaring playfully at a skeptical Wanda. "What? What is that look? Should I have drank from the riverwater full of shit—do you remember sleeping outside? Under the bridge? I was grateful for the cold or it reeked."

The memory tosses Wanda's stomach. Everything brightened dims like the overhead lights.

"We did not have a good childhood," she whispers, folding her arms.

There was no trick or treating in Sokovia, like the Not-Pietro spoke of. Wanda begged her mother, when she was seven, but her mother told her it was an American holiday for Americans. Pietro made fun of Wanda for believing _everything_ the American television sitcoms told her. There was no Neighborhood Watch Committee. There was no flawlessly manicured green lawns and no dog houses and no laugh-track to break the tension.

Pietro nods, his expression troubled.

"But we had each other," he mumbles. "All I wanted was to keep you safe. That is what I am doing now… _you have to go_."

"What?"

_"Leave this place, Wanda."_

Wanda scrunches her nose, pleasantly dismissive. Her accent fades.

"You're being silly," she says. "No… no, I like it here. And I won't have you leave me, Pietro. End of conversation."

"Then you will be trapped here forever."

A slow, forbidding laugh. "You don't know what you're talking about," Wanda drawls.

"I know you do not want to hurt anyone living here. I know you are in pain… and it is why you ended up here, Wanda… but now you have to let everyone go. Let yourself let go. Find what is keeping you here and _fight back_." Pietro crowds her face, scowling but trying to sound benevolent. "I know you can do it. Because if you do not… you become the monster that Strucker hoped you would be."

Wanda's eyes shimmer dark red. The same dark red psionic energy writhes at her fingertips

"You're _NOT_ my brother."

"Find that woman. She knows you are good. You trusted her," he says calmly. "You must trust her again."

_"WHY DO YOU WEAR PIETRO'S FACE?"_

Wanda screams and rears up one of her hands, preparing for an attack. She breathes hard.

Instead, Pietro murmurs comfortingly in Russian, taking Wanda's hand without fear and cupping her palm against the side of his face. The reddish-pink glow illuminates Pietro's skin. He doesn't look away from her despite the burning agony there, grinning.

"Because it is mine, _little mine_."

Footsteps stomp behind her. Wanda's concentration breaks, her powers dematerializing into nothingness.

She whips around to the sight of her twins jumping out from the Hall of Mirror's entrance-way.

"Gotcha!" Tommy bellows.

Billy smiles and claps his hands.

"Found you, mom!"

Disbelief floods her. Neither of them appear to notice their _real_ uncle. Wanda looks back, and it's only her reflection of coppery-orange hair and denim. "No," she exhales, wide-eyed and flattening her hands to the cold glass. No more quicksilver. "No, no!"

Wanda bangs against the glass, furious and repeatedly yelling _"NO!"_ until everything inside her stings.

"Mommy…?" Tommy whines, his lower lip quaking.

She stops, gulping for air and turning to see Billy crying softly. The anger quickly drains from Wanda. "Oh no, sweetie," she whispers, carding through Billy's hair and dragging him in. Tommy runs over, hugging her. "Don't be upset. It's okay. Mommy got confused. That's all."

"You're not mad at us?"

"Never," Wanda vows, stroking Tommy's back. He feels real. This all feels real, and yet, it might not truly be.

_Find what is keeping you here and FIGHT BACK._

Wanda's face tightens. Her wristwatch unmoved from its position at 12:12pm.

She will.

She will and she will not lose anyone else.

*


End file.
